Holo'cordings
by ariapaige
Summary: when Mara Jade-Skywalker is finally forced to confront her past, it does not come in the form of dark visions, but in the form of a simple holo-recording. how will she and her family ever cope?


Holo'cordings

By ariapaige

First off, all standard disclaimers apply. I don't, have never, and probably will never own Star Wars or any of its characters. I don't presume to. I am making no money from this; it is solely for my own amusement and the reading pleasure of anyone who cares to read.

Fresh Author's Note: yeah, i hadn't worked on this story in so long, i had to completely re-read it before i started to continue. This is my first fic and i didn't get such a spectacular response at first, so i thought i'd quit while i was behind, but this summer i got a request for more so here i am, trying again. i'm posting the whole first part (revised) along with a new chapter or so in this first post and we'll see what comes from it. Enjoy! ;) paige

And thanks bunches to my awesome, awesome beta and friend Adelaide!! :D i love you chica!

oh, yeah, this is AU after the Thrawn Trilogy. pretend Luke and Mara got married say, five years later. this is eight years after that. it was originally AU after Union, but i decided to move the timeline back a bit. just because. and don't even mention the NJO. X( grrr.

P.S.hi is someone speaking, unseen, off camera

hi is someone speaking in the world outside the video. i.e. the people watching.

"hi" is someone in the view of the camera speaking

(pans) is stage directions, etc.

-On with the story:

Rewind

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-

-

-

Stop.

Play

(Camera is fixed on a small, redheaded girl in a navy sailor-style jumper. The child waves enthusiastically at the holo'corder.)

"Hi Daddy"

Esme, not to me. Don't speak to me. Talk to the camera like we practiced.

"Oh. Okay… um…"

Start with your name and go on from there (exasperated sigh picked up by microphones)

"Right." (The child brightens considerably)

Go

"Hi, my name is Esmerelda Maryse Allan, but everyone just calls me Mar', 'scept for Daddy of course. He calls me Esme 'cuz my eyes are so very green. Just like his. I used to be four, but my birthday was last week, so now I'm five. (she holds up her hand to demonstrate)

"Daddy's recording me on the holo so I can be an actress. That way I can be on the holonet all the time and pretend to be lots and lots of different people. Let's pretend is my favorite game in the whole entire universe. It'll be so much fun. Daddy says sending in a tape like this is called an aw-di-shun, or something like that. Here's Daddy now. Wave Daddy!"

(The recorder whirls around to face a jade-green eyed man with trim, jet-black hair. He gives a tight-lipped grin and a fingertip wave before spinning the recorder around to settle on Esme again.)

"Daddy's name is Anthony and he's the bestest daddy in the 'ntire galaxy"

She starts walking across plush green grass towards a white house with back and side porches and a small tidy flower garden. She passes around the side porch which is filled with rusting lawn furniture and old toys that poke against the mesh walls. Esme pokes a tiny finger up to the second floor of the house.

"My room is up there!" The child gives a brilliant smile as she points towards a point off camera.

(The cam's view swings slowly, yet diligently up along the path of her outstretched arm to rest on a small second story window, where bright-white curtains billow out against the chipped green shutters, exposing a view of yellow walls with hot-air-balloon printed trim. A woman appears in the window, mahogany hair swirling like the curtains around her face as she reaches out to close the little window.)

Esme (off screen): That's Mommy. Isn't she pretty? Her name's Elspeth. Her great-grampa was a Jedi. He had a lightsaber and everything. For a while, I thought I wanted to be a Jedi when I grow up, but Mommy says that you have to have special powers when you're born so I can't.

Love, I put the kids to bed. Are you okay?

Yes, fine. Go to sleep

Let me sit with you

Alright

"Daddy says that even if I could, I'm too old now and the Jedi wouldn't let me in their temple anyway. Phooey."

(The camera pans back down to rest on the small child as she changes subjects, yet again.)

"Mommy's gonna have a baby. It's gonna be a boy, I know it. The doctor's say it's gonna be a girl, but you wanna know a secret? The doctor's don't know anything. I know he's a boy. I _saw_ him. Mommy and Daddy don't believe me"

(soft mumble) oh no, not this again!

"I hope that when I've gone away, they'll tell him about me. I'll think about him everyday, when I'm gone." (The girl seems close to tears.)

Esme, what are you talking about?

"He's coming to get me, to take me away from here. He says I belong to him"

(A look of fear crosses the child's face and she is near tears. The 'corder falters and jolts slightly as Anthony Allan sets it in hover mode and lets it rest in the air. Next he is seen walking towards his small daughter, making a striking contrast in his scuffed pants and house shoes.)

"Sweetie, no one is going to take you anywhere. Where do you get these ideas? Honey, don't cry. See, we'll have to do the audition over if you cry now."

(It is too late. Little Esme is weeping uncontrollably, her tiny body racked with sobs.)

"He's already here!" she shrieks. "Can't you feel him? Can't you hear him?"

(She looks at him imploringly. Hearing her daughter's cries, Elspeth Allan has come down from the house.)

"Mar', what's wrong baby?" (a rustling) "Oh!"

(Large rustlings and crushing of leaves, as of an army of feet.

I have come only for the girl

(Only the small family can be seen, both parents clutching their little girl close.)

"Who are you?" demands Anthony, over the crackling of leaves and rushing air of an unseen force.

"You can't have her!" cries Elspeth. There is a dull, clacking roar as a platoon of stormtroopers, which can now be seen surrounding the Allans, bring their blasters to bear.

"I have to go now Mommy, Daddy." The small child shrugs off her parents' embraces.

"Mar' no!" her mother cries.

"They'll hurt you Mommy. He told me so." She sobs, nodding her head to someone beyond the as of yet unnoticed holocam's range. Anthony stands to pull his daughter back. There is a flurry of fire and he falls to the ground in a shower of light.

"Daddy!" She turns on the unseen attacker. "You promised if I went with you, they wouldn't be hurt. You promised!" (The little one is wailing now as she rushes forward.)

Silence. You are now mine

The girl is stopped still in mid-lunge and descends, in the same position, to the ground, where she is held in place before the screen by an unseen force. Elspeth Allan, who has been relatively subdued in the background up to now, rises. A previously concealed blaster in her hands, tracking. The mouth of the blaster stops directly in front of the hovering camera.

A handful of heartbeats later, the blaster has been fired several times. Strange blue electrical currents flow over and around everything. The image recorder is dead, but the sound remains.

My daughter, I love you. Always remember

I'm so sorry Mommy. So, so sorry

I love you Mar… (a sigh)

Rattling noises, as if the holocam has been touched.

Hiss… Mar… Mara…with those green eyes…This film will make a fine addition to your new Imperial file…Mara Jade

Yes sir (A teary sounding whimper)

You must call me by my proper name and title barked in harsh contrast to the small silence of the second speaker.

Yes... My Emperor.

click

stop…

Are you sure you're all right, Mar'?

Hold me Luke. Just hold me.

Rewind.

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stop.

Play.

Chp. 2

Kyni

Ben Kynian and Arica Nikole Jade-Skywalker sighed as they were ushered off to their Aunt and Uncle's house before school for the third time that week. That meant that they would spend the night there instead of at home. Again. Not that the two small children didn't love their Aunt, Uncle, and teenage cousins, they just missed their own parents more. To make matters worse, now that their parents were not overseeing them personally, they had each been assigned a Noghri bodyguard. Now seven-year-old Kyni felt he knew why his mother was so adamant about not having them in the house. He ran his hand through his blondish-brown hair and tried to ignore the pairs of eyes that followed him as he dragged his sister through the halls. Two-and-a-half year-old Nikki, for her part, stuck her tongue out at each of them in turn and clutched at her brother with one hand, and her stuffed Ewok, Daryl, with the other.

_--_

'_See Mommy what we learned at the Praxeum today?' Kyni stood before his mother as a whirling storm of river stones and pebbles flew about his head._

'_Wonderful! Wow you're getting good at that, but be careful with those rocks okay? Go show Daddy, he's coming in now.' Mara Jade-Skywalker hugged her son briefly before shooing him off in the direction of the door through which his father was about to step. Before he could even leave the room however, a shrill squeal was heard from right by the door. _

'_DADDY!!' Nikki met Luke Skywalker at the door of their Yavin IV suite, her red-gold pigtails swinging at her back and her ice-blue eyes shining with joy. _

'_How's my little angel?' Luke laughed, swinging the small child up and into the air._

'_Little Brat's more like it Love, her report says she's been clouding the teachers' minds again.' Mara said as she poked her head out from her study where she was dropping off a stack of papers from the academy. _

'_Oh ho!?' He chuckled a bit and kissed his wife as he passed, before turning sober as he set the child down. 'Arica Nikole Jade-Skywalker, how many times do we have to tell you that you can't use your gifts in that way? You are not to cause anyone to see or feel or know anything that is not of their own free will and sense.' Luke's small daughter giggled and squinted her eyes at her father. Kyni rolled his eyes. She always tried that to get out of things. 'Yes, I can feel your probe,' his father set Nikki firmly on the ground. 'No, you can't force me to change my mind, and yes you will be punished. This is the fifth time that you've come home from school with a note like this, and you only started at the crèche this year!'_

_The door com buzzed only a split second after Kyni opened the door to greet the person that he could sense was standing there. The fidgety young man standing at the door was one of Karrde's messengers, of the sort that had not been around when his mother was second in command. He shifted from foot to foot as he asked the boy if his parents were in. 'Yeah, sure.' Kyni replied. Then, grinning impishly, he turned around and projected a Force enhanced shout through the house. 'MOM!' _

_Mara rolled her eyes at her son and muttered something that sounded like 'Kynian-Jade, one of these days…' though she patted his untidy blonde hair as she passed to greet the messenger. Kyni ran back to his father and sister and proceeded to show them the new techniques he had learned in class that day. Mara and the messenger exchanged a few words before he practically ran from the room, nearly running down Leia Organa Solo, who was coming up for a visit._

'_What was that all about?' Kyni's Aunt asked stepping into the house._

'_Some package from Karrde.' His mother shrugged. 'He seemed awful upset about this one though, despite the fact that he's the one Karrde usually sends here.'_

'_Poor boy, must have just learned of your reputation Mar.' Mara's only reply was to stick her tongue out at her husband._

'_Let's open it!' Cried Kyni, emerald green eyes shining as he grew more and more impatient with his parents' banter._

_After much ripping of paper and popping of packaging materials, the small item was found-a videodisk._

--

That was the beginning of it all. There had been some sort of note on the disk and Kyni and Nikki had been sent straight away to their rooms to play and then were ushered off to bed by their father's droid, Artoo Detoo. When they awoke, their parents were not in their usual places at the breakfast table and they had been taken to school by See-Threepio. Kynian had to give Nikki's wrist a slight tug when she slowed to give Jers'himkh and Ka'marakh her personalized version of the infamous Jade glare and they kept moving towards Auntie Leia's and Uncle Han's Yavin apartments. They hadn't truly spent time with their parents since.

Chp. 3

Kyni

Kynian wandered aimlessly through the halls of the praxeum on Yavin IV. That was how it had all begun. The box from Karrde. The package was really nothing so serious as the delivery boy had made it seem. Kynian had laughed as the boy fled in obvious terror down the hall. The little package was just a vid-disk. Kyni snorted. He hadn't even seen the movie yet. But apparently, just that disk had been enough. When his mother and father had watched it they were silent for a long while. Kyni had thought he'd seen his mother crying later that evening. But that was impossible. His mother didn't cry. It was part of being Mara Jade-Skywalker. The next day, Auntie Leia had come to get them from the house, and their cousins, who were spending some time in their parents' apartments, kept them company until bedtime. Kynian had felt just the slightest bit bad about that since the twins' parents were actually there at the praxeum to visit for a week. If Jacen and Jaina were watching them, they couldn't be spending time with their own folks. That feeling soon passed however, as Kynian and Nikki spent every day after school for nearly a week at someone or other's house that wasn't their own.

Whenever they went home, which was just for bed mostly, their mother was locked up in the room she shared with their father. Strangely enough, it appeared that their father was locked on the outside and he slept on the couch.

At school, the Noghri guard assigned to him by Auntie Leia followed Kynian constantly. Nikki simply went to the nursery every day so as long as she was under the care of an adult Jedi, Ka'marakh seemed not to bother her, but Jers'himkh seemed to take his job very personally since the arrival of the vid-disk. It was bad enough at the praxeum to be seen everyday for nothing but the fact that he was the son of the masters Skywalker, but to have Jers'himkh at his back constantly reminding him that he was the "heir of the son of Vader" was rapidly making him an outcast, even among the older students.

Even now, if Kynian would simply act as if he were about to trip, Jers'himkh would be there with a hand under his arm to steady him. He would sniff the back of his hand deeply and comment on what a pleasure it was to serve the heir of the son of Vader. Kyni debated trying it, if only to prove the point to himself, but decided against because there was no point to the gesture. He knew it to be true.

It wasn't fair! Kyni fumed silently, banging his small fist against the cement bricks of the temple walls at random intervals. This was supposed to have been a week of visitation. His parents had come in separately, from Coruscant, where his father had been attending an extended conference, and from, well, wherever his mother had been in the galaxy. They had agreed that before they went about any of their usual Praxeum activities that they were going to spend a week's vacation with their children. Their children! Not locked up in their apartments sulking behind locked doors. The boy gave a furious whack to a passed doorframe. He heard Jers'himkh coming up behind him to check on his hand and sought to calm his anger. He took a deep breath and practiced what he had been taught by his father, so long ago. He let the Force flow through him, providing refreshment and guidance.

Kyni finally reached his classroom. Everyone turned around to see who had entered and, upon taking note of him, fell together in small clusters of whispers and hand motions and the occasional backwards glance. He settled into a corner to practice making rocks dance and to practice making himself invisible. He debated briefly on which was the more difficult task of the two.

Walking back to the apartment that night, Nikki's tiny hand grasped firmly within his own, Kynian forced smiles and bit back the sharp comments that fought to escape him at the small comforts and curiosities of the Jedi populace. He was sick of being the center of attention. Why'd his parents have to keep doing things like this? Why didn't they ever think of him?

Chp. 4

Nikki

Nikki hated her Noghri bodyguard. And she hated it when people stared at her in the halls. And she hated that her daddy wasn't picking her up from school anymore, even though he was on planet and not giving any classes. And she hated that vid-disk for making her mommy sad. And she hated the messenger-man who brought it. Being two and a half made it very easy to hate things. She knew that hate was of the Darkside and that she shouldn't, but things were especially unfun and the moment and if there was one thing Arica Nikole Jade-Skywalker hated more than any other, it was when life was unfun.

It was way past her bedtime, but Nikki couldn't sleep. Nobody had tucked her in yet. Ka'marakh would only watch from his post, perched atop her bureau, and Kyni had fallen asleep already. She could hear his gentle snores. She tried to sleep, really she did. But, hard as she tried, its gentle comfort would not come to her. Like her daddy always said, 'do or do not,' and she was not falling asleep until someone tucked her in. She slipped out of bed and padded down the hall to her parents' bedroom. She passed her daddy, asleep on the couch. He was tossing and turning in his sleep. Nikki kissed his forehead and his agitation stilled. Luke Skywalker's breathing became evenly regulated and his brow unknotted. Nikki continued up the hall until she stood before the door to the room that, until a few days ago, Luke and Mara Jade-Skywalker had shared. She grasped the door handle in both hands and turned.

Pushing the door gently inwards, the small girl tiptoed into the room. The thick carpet was soft and warm between her toes. She crept up to her mother's side of the bed and reached towards the ball of blankets that lay there. Her hand had almost reached the place where her mother's face should have been when her Force-sense told her that there was no one under the covers bunched so convincingly to look like a sleeping form. She might have cried, except that she knew her father was in the other room. She looked around the room, shivering slightly in the breeze that came in the open window. Looking around the room, her fledgling Force senses picked up something that tingled in the corners of her mind. Following the sensation in the darkness, she came across the source of all their problems. It was the vid-disk.


End file.
